Report: GM Not Bothered By Corvette Markups
Chevrolet’s C8 Corvette has been in demand.
So much so that some dealers are commanding markups up to $100K over MSRP.
Considering the last Corvette we tested was at $79K, which we felt was a bargain for the performance, that means you could pay an exorbitant amount for a C8.
The response from General Motors amounts to a shrug.
Tony Johnson, GM’s director of car and crossover marketing said as much to GM Authority.
“Dealers are the interface with the customers, so customers make the deal with the dealer, so we leave that side of the business to our great dealer partners, who I think do a fantastic job, honestly, meeting customer needs and helping them through the journey,” Johnson told the site.
When asked if the company could or would do anything to keep dealer markups low, he responded thus: “Well, it’s supply and demand. We supply them, the dealers meet the demand.”
Obviously, one thing Chevy could do is just build more cars, but production delays have been a problem, thanks to a labor strike and COVID-related plant shutdowns, as well as the semiconductor chip shortage.
Still, Chevy sold over 20K cars in 2020 and appears to be on track to easily break that mark in 2021 — over 14,000 cars have moved already.
While dealers are within their right to charge huge markups on a car that’s in high demand and short supply — that’s capitalism, baby — it often feels gross and exploitative. Especially when the markup is higher than the MSRP.
We suggest waiting if you want a Corvette. If not, you might be paying a lot extra for the privilege of being impatient.
[Image: Chevrolet]
Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
More by Tim Healey
Comments
Join the conversation
"While dealers are within their right to charge huge markups on a car that’s in high demand and short supply — that’s capitalism, baby — it often feels gross and exploitative." I don't argue with the last part of that quote, but no one has the proverbial 'gun to their head' to pay those prices. The ask can be what it is, you don't HAVE to pay the ask. You have a bit more control over that than you may think.
Considering I had a McLaren 7-something-or-other (724S?) pull up next to me at a traffic light today, and it took me about 30 seconds to realize it wasn't a C8 Corvette, I can understand how the dealers are getting away with it.
A lot of people where having issues with the frunk flying open while driving. That's GM quality for you. Cheap made cars and people buy them because they never owned a Porsche before. They don't know a well made car.
Dealers near me are marking up Tahoes and Suburbans. Frankly, I would never pay markup for a car. Period. If I was interested in purchasing a car with a markup, I would politely inform the dealer that the markup will not be happening. If they insist upon it, then I can take my business elsewhere. GM makes the cars, if they want to add $10k or $100k to the price, that’s their choice. The dealer adding to the price is like a scalper buying up all the concert tickets and then trying to charge 3x face value - basically, creating no economic value, and only functioning as a parasite. On second thought, I’d probably walk off the lot if I see dealer markup on a car I was interested in. Tells me everything I need to know about the dealer.